Farmers, ranchers struggle with drought in the Plains

By Blake Nicholson The Associated Press

BEULAH, N.D. — Drought in North Dakota is laying waste to fields of normally bountiful food and hay crops and searing pastures that typically would be home to multitudes of grazing cattle.

Some farmers and ranchers say it’s the worst conditions in decades — possibly their lifetimes — and survival has become the goal as summer drags on without a rain cloud in sight.

“We’ve never been in this sort of boat, honestly,” said Dawn Martin, who raises beef cattle with her parents and husband in the southwestern part of the state, an area the U.S. Drought Monitor says is in “extreme” drought.

“We’re just trying to make it through and work it out,” she said.

The drought’s impact likely will be felt not just by farmers but also consumers, state Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said. Agriculture in North Dakota is an $11 billion a year industry, and the state leads the nation in the production of nearly a dozen crops.

The latest Drought Monitor map shows nearly all of western North Dakota in severe or extreme drought, conditions that extend into northern South Dakota and northeastern Montana.

John Weinand has had less than 2.5 inches of rain on his farm near Beulah, northwest of Bismarck, since May. He usually gets more than 3 inches in June alone.

Weinand figures his wheat crop will be half what it usually is. As for field peas, he expects to harvest fewer than 100 pounds per acre, compared with a typical 3,000 pounds per acre.

“If we get some rain we’ll have some corn and soybeans, but at this point it doesn’t look very promising,” he said.

The Martins have sold off about one-third of their cattle because their pasture grass is brown. They’ve already started dipping into winter hay reserves. They’ll likely send their remaining animals to a feedlot for the winter, but they might need to find second jobs to cover the expense.

“What we’re trying to do is hold onto our main cow herd, get through the year, and hopefully next year is better,” Martin said.

Blake Nicholson The Associated Press Farmer John Weinand surveys a wheat field Thursday near Beulah, N.D., that should be twice as tall as it is.